Skilled shares the ‘ABCD’ early warning indicators of dementia to identify

There’s at the moment no treatment for dementia, however an early prognosis can open the door to future care and therapy.

Professor of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine, in Qatar, Dr Malik really useful the ABCD mannequin.

He stated ‘A’ represents day by day actions that you could be “start to do less well”. Examples embody placing garments on.

‘B’ stands for behaviour; an individual could change into depressed or expertise a low temper in the event that they change into annoyed concerning the issues they will now not do.

‘C’ refers to cognitive perform; most particularly it is about your skill to recall data out of your short-term reminiscence.

Dr Malik defined: “Cognitive function is the major symptom that most people think about with dementia.

“This is absolutely when it comes to reminiscence and the important thing factor is short-term reminiscence (you overlook names of individuals, locations and issues.

“This can make you feel as though something is wrong but you can’t quite place it.”

Dr Malik added: “A person with dementia can clearly remember what happened 20 to 30 years ago, but won’t remember what happened yesterday or even today.”

“D” is for disorientation, when it comes to “time, place or person”, which might additionally add to feeling annoyed.

You may have issue in “naming people, places, and orienting yourself in space”.

ABCD of dementia

• A – Activities
• B – Behaviour
• C – Cognition
• D – Disorientation

Ways to minimise the chance of dementia

You can deal with the main danger elements; weight problems, diabetes, hypertension, heart problems, Dr Malik identified.

He stated: “If you treat these effectively, this will reduce your risk of developing and progressing in terms of dementia.”

Dr Malik added: “Also, having an education is a major deterrent for developing dementia.”

Additional protecting measures embody “using your brain by learning a new language, playing cards, and doing crosswords”.

Dr Malik stated: “Everybody should be encouraged to do these cognitive activities, as well as, exercising.

“Social isolation can also be a significant situation that may make dementia a lot worse, so if in case you have individuals round you that discuss to you, this may help scale back your danger of dementia.”

Dr Rayaz Malik is the Professor of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine in Qatar.